Program Notes

These very short, very quick nine little pieces for solo Clarinet methodically describe the dramatic emotional transformations a person may experience in the length of a single day.  The first five pieces climb, 1st from the Romantic expression, 2nd through Happiness, 3rd through Sadness, 4th through Anger, and 5th into the Silent stage.  Then, the sixth through ninth pieces fall into retrograde, where the 6th returns to Anger, the 7th to Sadness, the 8th to Happiness, and the 9th ultimately completing the return to the Romantic.

The compositional structure of these nine little pieces also parallels the emotional scheme.  In accomplishing this, the fourth and sixth pieces of “Angry” emotion use exactly the same notes and dynamics, with the sixth becoming the retrograde version of the fourth.  The notes and dynamics of the seventh piece are inversions of the third piece, the seventh being in a different key in the lower register.  The eighth piece is in the higher register, with notes and dynamics being retrograded inversions of the second piece.  The ninth piece finally returns, now in the dominant key respective to the first piece. The whole piece creates a circular symmetry of emotional dramatics.